Biggest temporary shopping centre in Europe opens

The biggest temporary shopping centre in Europe has been opened in Stein, The Netherlands. After the municipality suffered the terrible shock of the fire last year that completely destroyed the shopping centre, a rapid decision was taken to build a temporary shopping centre. For the insurance companies in The Netherlands, the fire, with 32 million euros worth of damage was the biggest money loser of 2009.

Neptunus, the building company, was commissioned to build a temporary, semi-permanent shopping complex of approximately 9,000 m² in the neighbourhood of the old shopping centre. The dismantlable turn-key properties were built in just three months and now offer accommodation for 30 store owners. The businesses that suffered were thus able to restore operations speedily as the new shopping centre will take years to redesign and rebuild.

The store owners

Companies that affected by fire are often insured against material damage, but every day that their business remains closed, they lose income. For this very reason the owner of the shopping centre commissioned temporary construction specialist, Neptunus, to build a semi-permanent, dismantlable shopping centre to bridge the gap until the new shopping centre is ready which will be in about three to four years’ time. The store owners involved can thus remain open for business. The Neptunus semi-permanent accommodation is the most advanced of its kind in terms of image and technical properties and there is barely any difference between these buildings and permanent buildings. A great advantage is that the buildings are totally dismantlable and can to a large degree be re-used. A large number of companies put up temporary buildings after a fire, during renovations or as extra space for a specific period of time. The properties are flexible in terms of design and don’t take long to build.

This temporary shopping accommodation is the biggest in Europe and will be open for a minimum of three years. After the opening of the new shopping centre in the old location, the temporary structure will be dismantled and re-used. The complex will house around 30 stores including the two supermarkets Aldi and Jumbo. The stores will have all the necessary facilities such as air-conditioning, washroom facilities, lowered modular ceilings, roll-down doors and automatic sliding doors.

Biggest temporary shopping centre in Europe

April Trasler, Managing Director of Neptunus: “A big fire is one of the worst things that businesses have to deal with. Being able to restore operations is a top priority. Semi-permanent accommodation often provides an excellent solution. The building time is short and temporary buildings are barely distinguishable from permanent buildings.”